Evaluation of Different Pineapple (Ananas comosus Merr L.) Varieties Using Morphological and Genetic Markers in Mauritius

Pineapple is considered as one of the finest fruit grown in tropical and sub-tropical countries. Morphological assessment was done on fruit, leaf, peduncle, growth habit and stem of the plant. Morphological characters, namely those from the fruit and the leaf can be used as reliable criteria to differentiate between the cultivated and the wild varieties. The genetic diversity of the cultivated and wild pineapple varieties was investigated by Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD). Genomic DNA was extracted from leaf and leaf base using the CTAB DNA extraction protocol followed by an RNAse treatment. Out of 60 Operon primers, 5 yielded polymorphic bands in all the pineapple varieties. OPP20, OPO03 and OPB18 were the most polymorphic markers. A dendrogram was generated using cluster analysis based on the dissimilarity matrix, performed using un-weighted pair group method arithmetic averages. RAPD markers can be used in identifying genetic diversity of the local pineapple varieties in Mauritius.